A Circus Train Wreck

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Hailey. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries Tales from Appalachia. They're not like us. They're not like us.

It's on. Like donkey? Like donkey? You know how I told you when I accept my Grammy for Best New Artist that I would get you?

Yeah. I think I'm going to change that. Okay. Thumbs up.

Oh, alright. You know, and you'll know. Oh no, but that was meant for me. You'll know that that wasn't it for you.

So I'll be like, thank you God for this Grammy. Thanks to all the bitches and hoes. Okay. That also creepy.

That also creepy for me. And then, you know, I'll just do this like thumbs up and you'll know. That's specifically for me. Okay.

And how honored you will feel. I will feel so honored. You will. I mean, you won't have the money in vain, but you'll know that you're like, buying the curtain.

Yeah. I'll help produce. Without any kind of incentive. Right.

But you know, it's kind of a pro bono thing. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

I think that's what's going to happen. I feel it. Okay. Are you okay with that?

Yeah. Great. Yeah. I can't wait to go to all the parties and hang out with the sun-lems.

You're in bed by eight p.m. parties. Are you going to? Listen, if I win a Grammy, I will stay up till nine.

Wow. Oh, yeah. That's pretty wild for you. Yes.

Yes. I will thank God and my parents and my son, Leon. Nah. He doesn't have anything.

I'm going to take Randy. I'm going to say Randy. Randy's been really instrumental. Yes.

Absolutely. To us on our safety. Oh my gosh. He is my bodyguard now.

I will hire him as my bodyguard. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And he'll go everywhere with me and he'll go back up, back up, back up, stay away from the talent.

Ha ha ha ha ha. What do you think? I like it fun. I mean, he'll be missed around the community.

Yeah. But saving my life is much more important. He'll be a community. I mean, I'll be a mom.

Clearly. Oh my gosh. I'm going to be friends with Kardashians. I can see it.

I don't think you will be. I know. Probably not. But I mean, you will have P and I guarantee you, this is going to happen because I transcend any kind of genre.

Okay. So you will have individuals who will be like, you know what? I'm your Pavarotti. I'm your rapper.

Whomever. They will come up to me and they will embrace me and say, you know what? Heart in a box. Touch me.

It touched me. And I can't get it out of my head. It's one of those bops. You know, it's, um, and you know, the truth is that it has a story to it, which, which leans in sort of that country genre.

So I will be accepted there. Yeah. Sometimes we can move a little fast through the lyrics. So, you know, my rap pals will be like, that's awesome.

Listen to you. Bust a rhyme. Um, and then, but there's, there's such genuineness in my tone that makes the individuals, I, who are in classical fields who are like, Oh my gosh. Listen to them.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, can you think about another song that just transcends genres like heart in a box?

I can't say that I can. No, you can't. It's really good. You can't.

There's nothing comparable. No, it's a heart in a box. No. I mean, when somebody finds a box and there is a beating heart in there, it changes lives because the real question is, oh, we can do a music video of like, I'm a detective and I have to find out who's heart it is.

You know, I stole someone's heart. Then I have to find out who's it is. And at the end, it's this hot guy. I will employ a hot guy with a shirt off.

And the heart is his. Wow. Not the actual beating heart. It's sort of the, the medical.

I mean, but then who's hardest. The box. It's not his. Well, it doesn't matter at that point because in the video, I will naturally fall into his embrace and we will start heavily making out.

And who cares? It's the end of the video. And we still don't know who's heart is. We don't need to know.

You know what? It was his. But it wasn't his dad. Actually, you're not dead.

No. All right. Okay. I admit this is not fleshed out part of the pun as much as I wish it could be.

Okay. We'll get there. I think I need some help with the concept. But don't say.

Are you being an asshole right now? I feel it. You know what it is? Bitch is be jealous.

That's what it is. That's what it is. Because I'm going to be making out with this hot guy. I'm going to be winning Grammys and you are going to be in your GMEs asleep at 8 p.m.

That sounds delightful. Actually it does. Come on up in a box. Okay.

I'm just really worried about you. I leave sometimes. I'm going to be fine. Okay.

Are you sure? I mean, in theory. Okay. Sure.

Yeah. I really appreciate the support. You're welcome. I'm going to be far away.

You're like, I worry better, but I'm not staying. So. No, I won't stay. No.

I mean, I. But I won't worry. Yeah. From afar.

Yeah. From afar. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, and this is why you're not going to be in like a grammy acceptance speech. You already said I got the thumbs up. I'm going to take that away. I'm going to put my thumb back in another box and that'll be another song.

It'll be a continuation. You know, I first I had a heart in a box and then I put a thumb in a box. Oh. Yikes.

It just sounds more and more like you're slowly getting dismembered in different parts of you. Nope. To me, it had a whole another connotation. I'm not going anywhere.

I figured it did from your reaction. Let's try to pivot us back to. Yeah. Land, fate, crime.

That is true. That is true. And if you have hung on, through all of this, thumbs up to you. Thumbs up.

Alrighty. Alright. What you got? Circus train wreck.

Awesome. And here we are. Okay. Today, we are talking about a great train wreck.

Oh, for real. For real. Not just us. Wow.

That's weekly. Okay. Yeah. We're going to November of 1915 in Georgia.

Okay. So this is where a train full of circus performers, yes, from the con T. Kennedy's Travel in Circus was on their way to Alabama for a show. Okay.

So the circus was pretty popular within the south and they even had their own train for transportation to and from shows. They often played smaller towns and venues but stayed pretty booked up. Like they weren't like a Barnum and Bailey. Like they weren't that famous.

But they were like, you know, people knew about them and was like, yeah, I can bring your clowns and let's go. Yeah. Good times. So the trains, wooden cars had all different kinds of performers.

They had brass band, they had jugglers, clowns, simies, twins, acrobats. They also had animals. You know, they had the, I guess the lions that would jump through the Yeah. They had elephants, all the things.

They were like a large scale operation. Like for the most part, pretty large scale. They had a Ferris wheel, they had tents, but here's what they did with the tents. They would cover them in oil.

Yeah. On the outside of the tent because it helped keep out the rain because, you know, they performed outside. And so this kept the performers from getting wet and, you know, so they slipped them down with oil. Oh, righty then.

They annoyed them with oil. Okay. Sadly, this train ride from Columbus to Macon, Georgia, would be their last. Oh, no.

Yeah. So the conductor is, you know, going along his way and he receives a message. And the message is you need to wait 10 minutes because another train is going to be coming on the same track so you need to just kind of hold up here. Hold what you got.

Hold what you got. Let it pass and then you can keep on going. How hard is it to stop a train? I wonder.

Cause I, like, I mean, you know, they can stop. Right. But I wonder if it's like not in a time, like how much time do you have to give for them to be able to stop? I think it's a pretty solid advanced warning because I think if you pull the brake, it would be a lot of, yay.

Yeah. And just kind of keep on driving until you stop. Yeah. Yeah.

I can imagine that that's an easy process. I also think that there's a high likelihood that you could be rail in that process too. Yeah. Especially in the early 1900s.

Yeah. But train travel was pretty common back then. Right. Doesn't mean it was safe by any reasons.

Right. But I don't know. That's just interesting. That is.

Think about, like, that's a good Google question. Yeah. We'll do that. We'll let you know.

Okay. We'll keep you posted. So the conductor either didn't hear the message or he was like, Fs. Forget this.

I have a train to get to the place. It needs to be on time. So he left there at 1.30 in the afternoon. He was like, forget this.

We're going. That's not good. Yeah. It's not very good.

At all because he just plowed on. And of course the individuals in the train cars didn't think of it. Like this was part of their life. Yeah.

This is what they were used to. But something interesting to know is that these circus performers would like jump on and off the train all the time. Okay. I mean that makes sense.

Yeah. I would be like, okay. So we're headed to Alabama. Like, okay.

I can be the man who, you know, guesses your weight. I'll jump on. You know. Like, whoever.

We just kind of jump on and off. So it wasn't also like we had a tendons. You know what I mean? Right.

Like these weren't like tracked employees. Right. I mean, I don't think HR was involved. Right.

Probably didn't take taxes out on them. Probably not. You know, like, oh, give the bearded lady a W2. Right.

Yeah. It was just, yeah. One of those whoever wants to participate. Right.

Jump on. We'll find you something to do. Exactly. Whether that's performing or mucking out stalls or whatever it is.

Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. It takes.

Oh, sometimes can take over a mile. For a train to stop. Wow. According to Google.

I'm curious too, how fast they're usually going and like when they put the brakes on. Like, I don't know. That's a 55 miles per hour. Okay.

Can take over a mile to stop. Wow. Yeah. That's pretty crazy.

That is. That's like modern time. Wow. I wonder what it was.

Yeah. I don't know. That's interesting. So anyway, the train carries on.

And of course, like I said, no one's really the wiser because no one has any idea that there was this message. You know. So everybody's just doing their circus thing. Whatever that might be.

Shaving, shaving her beard. Yeah. Trimming it up. Shaving it up.

Exactly. As we do as well. So the train ends up colliding with another train. Yeah.

Because you were supposed to wait 10 minutes. He didn't heed the warning. And sure enough, boom. Yeah.

There is a massive explosion. And you all you see is like shattering wood that's going everywhere on that other train, which was just a passenger train. It was made out of metal. And so they fared pretty well.

Yeah. There was just a lot of damage, like, you know, of like pushing in of the metal. But honestly, everybody on that train, they were fine. Yeah.

There weren't really any issues. Sadly, on the circus train, because it was made of wood, it didn't fare as well. No. And basically it smashed all the animals.

Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah. And people came to try and rescue them.

But there was another issue. Remember I talked about the oil and the tents? Yeah. Well, it fed the flames and caught on fire.

And caused an issue because people couldn't get out. Yeah. And because people would jump on and off the trains. Like I mentioned, nobody knew like, right now.

Like who was on and who was not? We hadn't taken attendance. Yeah. Where's the bear to lie down?

Did she hop on? She may still be in Georgia. Well, they were still in Georgia. Yeah.

She must have been in another part of Georgia. Yeah. Yeah. So nobody knew.

So I just believe that 24 people died. But some remember the story more for one miraculous survivor. Yeah. So there was a little girl.

Her name was Hazel Kemp. And she was able to pass through a small window as the flames grew around her. Yeah. She knew that if she didn't do something that she was going to die.

So she was able to get through the window. Yeah. Actually, no. Hazel was the mother.

I'm skeezing. Hazel was the mom. And she had her daughter with her. So she was able to get through the window.

And then she pulled her daughter. Excuse me. There. Yeah.

So they had minor injuries. Yeah. But apparently their story, you know, kind of had some notoriety, kind of like heart and a box. Yeah.

And they went on to be somewhat famous in that area of Georgia. And the little girl, she ended up living a long and happy life and died in 1999 at the end of the year. In the mid-99 of the Tender age of 84. Wow.

Yeah. Yeah. So a monument was carved out to look like a circus tent in the Rivadale Cemetery where apparently most of these individuals were buried. Okay.

And I don't know if they were all like from that area or. I would imagine like circus folk back in the day were kind of transient. I would assume. Like it's, you know, yeah.

I mean, if you're hopping on and off trains, right, you're probably like, who knows if people knew where to claim them or, yeah, I would claim them or even if they had passed like, who knows. Exactly. That's, that's kind of that piece of it is like you run away to join a circus and do you know, right? Do you even know what's happened to your family period?

You're like, okay, they ran away. Do I just assume Haley has joined the circus because there's a little stubble? Is she now? We don't know.

We don't know. Or did she just run off, you know, on her merry way. Right. We don't know.

So I mean, it does kind of bring that up. Is there some like closure in this and because they all die together, were they just sort of buried together in the same place? Well, and you know, this is also what is it, 1910? Yeah.

I'm sure like 1950, 15, 15. Okay. So yeah, it's not doing a whole lot with forensics at that time. So it's kind of like, okay, we got all these bones or all these pieces of people.

Yeah. Because if it blew up pretty much, like you're probably not finding, you might find some intact bodies, but you're going to have parts of people. Yeah. So do you just like, what do you do with that?

Put them all together and hope for the best. This looks like, Haley. Yeah. Like, you find two arms and two legs and just kind of chuck them in a hole together.

One's longer than the other. But it's alright. Okay. One has the nails done.

Yeah, it's fine. I mean, like, really, that's kind of like what you're looking at though, you know? Oh, I'm so sad. It really is sad because I feel like these individuals anyway were sort of outcast in a sense, you know.

And so their death is sort of, I don't know, not that it's not remembered, but I think that it's, they're kind of just thrown to history in a way. I don't know. But there is what's called a wicked river city's tour. It talks about the history of this event and speaks to some paranoia.

Some paranormal activity because I mean, when a train full of circus entertainers dies in a horrible death, obviously they've got to come back and haunt. Yeah, there's going to be some haunting there. So it is said that individuals who go on this tour are able to take photographs and they have seen ghostly orbs and children throughout history in this area have talked about hearing and seeing carnival, hearing carnival music and seeing people dressed oddly near the cemetery at night. So, yeah, I like it.

I wonder if like the animals still haunt it too. Like you're just walking through the cemetery and you just see an elephant. Like what'd you do? I get in water.

You're like, oh, there's no water for 11. I, you know, I don't tend to walk through cemeteries at night. I'm just going to say it. I know you do.

That is not my jam. Yeah, I would know what to think. I mean, now if I saw like a bearded lady in the cemetery, that would scare the hell out of me. Yeah, it's 100%.

I'd be like, Mom, what are you doing? No, she didn't. Mom will not be at my Grammy party. No, I'm not going to think her either.

Really? No, I'm going to think her. Okay. I'm going to say my mom taught me how to shave.

Oh, gosh. She did actually, but my legs. You say clarify. Yeah.

Yeah. My mom taught me not your mom. God, I'm weird. That really would have been weird.

When would you start shaving your legs? How old were you? I'm in middle school. Okay.

So 12, 2009, I was teaching. Yeah. My mom would have been in her fifties. Yeah.

I'm going to holly. I just want to let you know I'm going to go teach some random girl that you don't know yet. I should be like, oh, it sounds like a crime. Yeah.

Yeah. Not a story. It is simple. Very simple.

I mean, that's horrific and sounds very avoidable. It does. If someone would have just listened. Yeah.

But in again, you know, it's not really clear if like he didn't listen, he didn't hear it or he was just like, forget this, our train is going to get there on time. The circus will begin. I mean, there's many jokes that come to this, but I'm trying to be respectful. I appreciate the yes.

Yeah. You and my dad used to jump trains. Oh, they're going to see you to be in the circus. I was like, wow.

You see some hoptrains. I mean, I think a lot of like young boys would do that. I love the episode of the office where Michael is a McLaren bagropsery and he tries to get on a runaway train. He can't hop on it.

Yeah. I do like that. Yeah. My dad used to hoptrains and we're like, oh, this one's kind of cool.

He's like, you can't do it now. They went much slower back in the day. Yeah. I'm going to recommend it now.

It's very illegal and it's very dangerous. Yes. Don't do that. Don't do that.

But you know, my mom used to say I would never want to live near train tracks. And I said, why? And she was like, hobos will get off the train and try and kill you. And I was like, what?

And so, of course, it wasn't my first apartment, but my second apartment train tracks went right through it. Oh, wow. And my mom was like, you're going to get killed by hobos. And I was like, why is this thing?

Oh my God. And then I moved to Virginia and the condo I had in Virginia, right behind it. The deck had a beautiful view of you guessed it train tracks. Nice.

And of course, my mom again was like, Oh my God, you've moved to Virginia. Now you're going to get killed by hobos. So I mean, endlessly, I'm, you know, going to get killed by hobos. Apparently.

Well, maybe that's just what mom's hoping. I don't know. Maybe we used to camp when we were kids, because that's something we did as a family a long time ago. It's really sweet.

Never again. Off the train. Yeah. Here we go.

No, we would we would camp and it was like the train tracks went right through the campground, like active trains shaking. So it would literally middle the night, like you would just be vibrant. And it would wake you up in Milan. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, that's the same at the condo in Virginia. It's like the pictures on my wall to take a little bit. And I was like, Oh, okay.

It's a train. And I eventually got used to it. But it was very startling. Yeah.

I mean, I think people you do just get used to that kind of noise. You do. Yeah. Yeah.

Like when I lived in the city, I got used to the sound of like traffic and I lived right below hospital, like a huge hospital system. And so just constant sirens all the time because of the ambulance and stuff going to the hospital. And you just get used to it. When I was growing up as a kid, my parents lived in the city.

And so, you know, why I live there too. They allowed me to live there. It was very kind. We lived in the country.

They visited in the weekends. Yeah. I was like, Hey, mom and dad, they had custody of me only on the weekend. Yeah.

No, but you know, we were so used to noises and ambulances and like all these things, all the time that when my parents moved, I was 20. And so I was living at college, but I would come home, you know, for holidays and that kind of thing. I couldn't sleep. Because it was so quiet.

What's happened? Yeah. When I moved back home, it was jarring. Yeah.

It is how quiet it was. I was like, I'm just to have like a city. Like a sound machine or something. But now, you know, where I live, it's very quiet.

It's very peaceful. You know, we pay for the piece. We pay for Randy. But nonetheless, I have a tabletop ice maker that I got for Christmas because I like the little teeny ice.

It's fantastic. It's like the hospital ice. You know, it's amazing. Yeah.

Very fun. So anyway, it makes a lot of noise though. And so both my son and I was like, what's that? What's that?

What's that? I don't know. It's like, Oh, it's the ice maker. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, has trainables. That's us. That's us.

We kind of are. I mean, you know, we are our own train wreck. Yeah. I mean, I think you all would agree with that.

Yeah. I mean, we do have our lives together because we are functional professionals. Yeah. Probably ends there.

That's about. Yeah. I mean, my professional life is pretty put together. Yeah.

Me too. A personal life. Not so much. I'm a good parent.

I think you are a good parent. Thank you. You're Jackson. Thank you.

Welcome. Until he's on a couch 20 and he's talking about his mother, you know, my mother thought she wanted Grammy. You know, that guy. He hears this podcast.

He hears this podcast. I feel sorry for him. I really do. So us son, the realist future.

I want to apologize for everything. Yeah. So the reason I didn't come around anymore. It was last straw.

Yeah. Cause it was podcast. We're not friends anymore. She doesn't play with my toys.

Yeah. I leave those just for her. Thanks. Well, if you would like to tell us about your train wreck and whatever form or fashion that takes in your life, yes, you can do so by emailing us at mountainistories.applelatchin at gmail.com.

Find us on our Facebook mountain mysteries. Tails from Appalachia. Check us out on Instagram. Mount mysteries dot Appalachia and check us out on our Patreon for some bonus content.

Patreon.com slash mountain mysteries. That was very wrote. Good job. Thanks.

I am proud of you. Robot Haley. Thank you. Oh, okay.

So we are going to give a massive shout out to Columbus, Georgia and this whole area, the make in area. We know what's happened. So anyways, shut up. All right.

Until next week. Bye. Bye.